"There is one tool you have not learned to use," said Ralph, one day, "and I think that it is about time you tried it."

"What tool is that?" asked Harry.

"The gouge ground or bevelled on the outside." (Fig. 155.)

"What is it used for?"

"For cutting concave curves, especially those below the surface. Suppose you practise on a piece of white wood."

A piece of white wood was squared up, a foot long and 1¹/₂ inches square. The lines shown in the figure were laid out with the pencil. The marking gauge is not suitable for this work, as it makes a sharp cut in the surface just where the edge is to come, so that after the gouge work is finished, it would show this edge split by the gauge mark. (Fig. 156.)

The two grooves from end to end were first cut, removing a quarter circle, the curve being drawn on the ends by a pair of compasses or dividers. This gave excellent practice in freehand work, calling for good control over the hands, and a constant watching of the grain to prevent splitting.

The other two grooves or coves were next tried. Extra care had to be exercised here to prevent taking off the ends.

To give the boy further practice, the simple pen tray shown in Fig. 157 was sketched out, and the stock squared up.

The gouge work in this exercise was entirely beneath the surface, and to make the tool work true to the drawing, a depth gauge was made as shown at a. This was simply a straight piece of waste wood with a brad driven into it, carefully, until the head was the same distance above the surface as the depth of the groove called for in the drawing.

By inverting the gauge and running the brad head along the bottom of the groove, the depth could be gauged accurately. The wooden strip must rest on the surface at both sides of the groove, and the brad head just touches the bottom at the same time.

After the gouge work had been carried as far as possible, the groove was finished by sand-papering, first with No. 1¹/₂ and then with No. 0 sand-paper.

In laying out bevelled edges on a piece of this character, the same objection to the marking gauge holds as for gouged grooves. Ralph showed the boy a simple method of making a gauge for pencil lines to overcome this difficulty. He cut out a piece of white pine shaped as shown at b. The distance from the shoulder to the point of the V was equal to the width of the desired bevel or chamfer. The stock must be held in the vise, as both hands are required in the drawing of the lines. To make the width of the bevel greater, simply cut the shoulder further back with a knife, and to reduce the size, cut the V further in toward the shoulder. This is a very convenient and inexpensive device, quickly made.

A more pretentious project was tried next (Fig. 158, a), which provides for a round ink bottle, and demands some nice chisel work. In the first pen tray the bevels had been all planed. On this second one, only three could be cut that way, as the one on the back had to be chiselled. The successive steps in the construction were as follows:

1. Square up stock.

2. Lay out the drawing on the wood.

3. Bore the hole for ink well half way through the wood with extension bit.

4. Smooth the bottom of the hole with chisel, holding it bevel down.

5. Gouge out the groove and gauge the depth.

6. Sand-paper the groove.

7. Cut out the outline of the back with the back saw and chisel.

8. Cut all the bevels, doing the back part—the most difficult—first.

9. Draw chip carving design.

10. Do the carving.

11. Rub down with wax dissolved in turpentine.

12. Insert ink well.

Design No. 3, shown at b (Fig. 158), called for molded edges, places for two square ink wells, and a simple carved design in the flat space between them. The process in this case was as follows:

1. Square up.

2. Lay out the work from drawing.3. Cut out squares ¹/₄ inch deep with socket chisel and mallet.

4. Gouge groove.

5. Make moulded edges by first gouging the quarter circle shown in detail drawing, and doing the long sides with the grain first. Next remove the rest of the wood outside the curved outline with smoothing plane on long sides, block plane on ends. Sand-paper the groove and moulded edges.

6. Lay out and execute carving.

7. Rub down with wax or raw linseed oil.

8. Insert ink wells.

In place of carving this inkstand, an inlaid design could have been used, and the whole piece highly polished, but our boy had not yet had any practice in inlaying or polishing, so he used sweet gum wood and a chip carving design. Later on he made others out of black walnut and mahogany, and gave them a high polish. See Chapter XXXVI for inlaying and XLIX for polishing.

A very nice little problem in gouge work is shown in Fig. 159, a pen tray pure and simple, with no provision for ink wells.

The only new feature is the under cutting of the outside. The steps for this are:

1. Square up.2. Lay out from a centre line, drawn completely around the block lengthwise, and draw with compasses and rule both top and bottom.

3. Gouge groove.

4. Plane the long sides to outline of top and bottom lines.

5. Cut ends with back saw and chisel to semicircles on top and bottom.

6. Round upper edge with spokeshave, chisel and knife.

7. Sand-paper with coarse, followed by fine, sand-paper.

8. Polish or wax finish.

Perhaps the most severe test for gouge work is the pin tray shown at Fig. 160. This is something which could be made more cheaply and in less time from metal, but a skilful and careful boy can do it successfully in a hard wood, such as maple. The process is similar to the pen tray. The drawing is laid out on the squared stock, and the bowl cut out with the gouge.

The outside is best executed with a template, or better, two—one for the lengthwise section and one for the width. A template is a form cut out of thin wood or metal; in this case ¹/₈-inch wood should be used. By frequently holding these templates to the work, it may be quickly seen where the material is to be removed.

When the outside of the tray fits the templates, it is ready for sand-papering, and not before. To make the tray perfect, an inside template can be used. This template method is used in forming boat models.